Salton Settlement Fund

The Salton Settlement Fund was the result of a settlement of an antitrust complaint brought by the California Attorney General and other state attorneys general against the Salton Corporation for alleged resale price maintenance and other anti-competitive conduct in the sale of Salton Contact Grills. Before going to trial and without admitting liability, Salton agreed to a court order prohibiting certain conduct in the sale of its indoor cooking grills including agreements to set retail prices. As part of this settlement, Salton also agreed to pay approximately $7.6 million to resolve claims of compensatory damages. Each state was allocated a portion of this amount based on population. California’s share was approximately $800,000. Because of the impracticability of identifying grill purchasers, potentially differing amounts of damages, the high cost of administering a check refund program relative to the potential average award and other factors, the settlement called for distributing funds on a state-by-state basis to not-for-profit corporations, charitable organizations and government entities to advance health or nutrition-related causes.